Airport Goodbyes & How We Almost Got Arrested in Beijing

Welp we’ve landed in East Asia! Since boarding that first plane out of Orlando everything has been a blur. We spent New Years Eve at Trenton’s parents house and my sister, Katie, my best friend Heather, and my mom came over to keep us company while we finished getting everything together.

At 3 AM we loaded up the cars and headed to the airport. Once we pulled up to the curb, a big rush of fear hit me as I realized this was it. My mom and I both let out a squeal. We unloaded the cars, sent the bags away on curbside checking, and gave each other good bye hugs.

Then the fun began.

Frickin American Airlines.

So we get to our gate and they said if you want to check an extra bag for free you can and it will be available at your final destination. Since I had three carry-ons and I was only supposed to have two I decided to check my rolling carryon. Bad idea.

So we board our flight and fly from Orlando to Dallas then we go from Dallas to Beijing. Once we landed in Beijing, we had to pick up our bags again before boarding our next fligh. So we pick up our bags and head to our terminal but it turns out our terminal is like 30 minutes away. So we had to get on a bus and it took us across the city of Beijing to the right terminal. SO SKETCHY!!!!

So once we finally reach our terminal (thank goodness we had a long layover) and we had to recheck our bags. So we send off my bags including my carry-on and then we got to Trenton’s bags but they wouldn’t let him send off his last suitcase. They said we already had four suitcases. We tried to explain to them that Americans Airlines let us check my carryon for free but they wouldn’t listen. So they told us to go through security and take our suitcase with us and check it at the gate. So we head down to security which is like two floors down and everything’s in Chinese and they wouldn’t let us through because our bag was too big. So they send us to a different floor. So we are at this floor talking to this Chinese lady for like 30 minutes trying to get her to let us check our bag and finally she just told us we couldn’t do it. So then we got sent upstairs to a different floor and had to talk to this Chinese man for another 20 minutes and he finally lets us check our bags. So then that guy prints off and our boarding pass. Then we had back down to security and they checked my boarding pass and I go through security but then when it gets to Trentons turn the security person realized he had my boarding pass and that we both had the same boarding pas. So security came and took Trenton away. So I was like freaking out. I tried to tell them it was a mistake but they just like laughed at me. I began fishing through my bag until I finally found his original boarding pass with his name on it and handed to them and they just like looked at me like I was crazy and I was trying to point to the name and they finally realized it was his boarding pass. They suddenly started chasing down the security that was leading Trenton away and then they let him come back through. I was like this would happen, we didn’t even make it into the country and Trenton‘s already been basically arrested.

But we made it ha ha. And then we flew to our final city and checked into our apartment. Thankfully all of our luggage made it! So far all is well and I can’t wait to post some pictures 🙂 basically all of my usual websites are blocked except for my blog! Haha.

Tomorrow we are going to explore and then have dinner with friends. Yay!

Have you ever had a crazy airport experience?! What is your favorite airlines to fly?! Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

fyi, I wrote this via voice text so my apologies if it is horribly written 😬

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Hey ya'll! I'm Courtney, and I'm a Florida-born gal learning to live in East Asia. You can find travel tips, fashion inspo, and my daily adventures right here on my blog. My hope is that this blog will help inspire you to live your best life! Make sure to check out my book, The Smart Girl's Guide to Surviving Her Twenties, for more tips on how to survive, and thrive, throughout the most transformative decade of your life.

So very thankful you all finally made it to your destination with all your luggage! God will use this test of all the difficulties as part of your growing in faith and trust! You are protected, you are loved, Nanny Sunshine

Yikes! So glad you both made it after that ordeal! My husband almost alwaysss gets pulled aside and has to be searched by security before they let us through. We are now just prepared for it and get super excited when we get through with ease!

I’m laughing so hard I’m crying!! I told Damon that something like this probably happened to you!! I loved reading it! I also just realized why I say “like” and “so”, so often now. Glad I got to spend your last night in America with you and your family!! love you girl! Miss you!

Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that happened to you but at the same time it’s great that you managed to get out of it! Airports are so much trickier when you don’t speak the language.. Hopefully the rest of your trip is much better! xo

Lost bags, oh yeah! One bag ended up in Houston, while we were in Jerusalem. (United, partnering with El Al). We got it the fourth day we were in Israel. That was in 1982. The next lost bag went from Miami to Boston, whilst we were in New Jersey. That wasn’t so bad. The American Airlines delivery guy just dumped it in my father-in-law’s driveway, saying he was too damned busy.

My absolute favourites to fly with are either Singapore airlines or Qantas depending of where you are going/ what gets you most bang for your buck. I try to stay away from anything else as I’ve had friends and family have terrible experiences with other aliens, especially those “budget friendly” ones that are experts at sneaking in hidden costs. I’m glad you guys turned out ok, thank god! I can’t imagine how stressful that must have been! Hope the rest of the trip is amazing though and take lots of photos!